Fox is a Super Bowl winner too

The Packers win over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV was one for the record books, literally.

According to Nielsen, 111 million people tuned into Fox on Sunday to watch the NFL championship game, making it the most watched TV program in U.S. history. That figure shattered the previous high of 106.5 million set by last year’s Super Bowl on CBS, in which the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts.

This marks the second year in a row that the Super Bowl has surpassed 100 million viewers. The only other program to reach that milestone was the 1983 series finale of the CBS comedy “MASH,” which had an audience of 106 million. Fox, a network that this fall will mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of its first show, now owns a record for the most-watched TV night in the history of television.

On the surface, a match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers — teams from smaller markets — would not seem like record-setting material. However, both teams are storied franchises with fan bases that reach far beyond their hometowns.

For the NFL, this is the sixth straight year the Super Bowl has topped 90 million viewers and the fourth year in a row that the game has beaten its record for viewers. Ratings soared for the NFL all season behind the continued growth of fantasy football and savvy marketing efforts to reach women and kids. The gambling element should not be discounted either. Bettors wage on everything from the outcome of the game to the length of the national anthem.

However, there is a dark cloud on the horizon. The NFL is at odds with its players over a new labor pact. The current collective bargaining agreement expires in less than a month and the sides remain far apart on several key issues, including money and the length of the season.

The NFL, which is already collecting about $4 billion in TV license fees from Fox, CBS, NBC, satellite broadcaster DirecTV and its own NFL Network, wants to refigure the revenue split between the league and players. It also wants to extend the regular season from 16 games to 18 games, which the players are opposed to because of the toll two extra games will take on their health.

The agreement expires March 3, and an accord before then seems unlikely, which would lead to the NFL team owners locking out players. If a new deal is not reached before the fall, the NFL could be looking at its first season disrupted by labor unrest since 1987.

Of the 111 million viewers who watched the Packers hang on for a 31-25 win, only 26.8 million stuck around through the post-game to check out Fox’s special episode of “Glee.” That number may be a record for the show, but the drop-off of viewers from the game and post-game program was fairly dramatic. “Glee,” a series set in high school with lots of musical numbers, was seen as something of a risky choice for Fox to air after the Super Bowl because its biggest appeal is with women and kids.

“Glee” was not helped by how late the game ran. Last year, CBS was able to start the premiere episode of its reality show “Undercover Boss” at 10:13 p.m. on the East Coast and get an audience of almost 40 million. “Glee” did not start until 10:39. Fox generally runs a longer post-game show than the other networks.

The numbers for “Glee,” while down from “Undercover Boss,” were bigger than what NBC scored in 2009 when it went with an episode of “The Office” after its coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ last-minute win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The game may have set a record, but the day was not glitch-free. First, about 400 fans with tickets ended up not getting seats at the game because the sections they were supposed to sit in were declared unsafe. Although big refunds were offered and hasty accommodations made, it was a big blunder for the league and Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, whose stadium was host of the game. Then Christina Aguilera botched the lyrics to the national anthem, and the halftime show featuring the Black Eyed Peas had technical issues as well.

On the field though, the fans seemed to get their money’s worth. While Green Bay jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, the Steelers fought back and made a game of it until folding in the final minutes.

joe.flint@latimes.com